Am I exercising too hard? Please read...

[Lookin4MyAbs]

Hi, I just joined a couple of weeks ago....but didn't really start seriously until today. My question is, how do you know when you're pushing yourself too hard with exercise? It's kind of hard to tell because when you first start out it's supposed to be hard and uncomfortable.

I just got off my elliptical and I did 30 minutes of a custom interval program that I made. Towards the end of the workout I felt so much like I wanted to stop, but I didn't. Sitting here at the computer five minutes from finishing my workout I feel a lot better, lol.

I lost a bunch of weight during the summer of '05, and at my peak I was doing 45 minutes to an hour of cardio on the treadmill, and strength training (total body) 5 to 6 days a week. I loved doing the treadmill because I never really broke a sweat while I was on it (I only got up to 3.4 mph, because I didn't want to run.) which I know probably isn't a good thing because you're supposed to sweat.

Since then I have gained back the 20 pounds I lost plus 30 more, and I now have my own house. Since I didn't have everyday access to my mom's treadmill anymore, I decided to buy one, but ended up buying an elliptical (thinking I would get a tougher workout in less time, and I could run without really running, if you know what I mean).

My plan is to do 30 minutes of the interval program on the elliptical 5 days a week, and do 3 days a week of strength training. Is this unrealistic for me? I'm a lot heavier than last time. Trust me, I'm not trying to weasel out of it, I just don't want my body to freak out and refuse to drop weight.

Sorry I was long-winded....thanks for reading.

 

[xkaylanicolex]

it sounds good to me, but i don't know how heavy you are, if it bothers you that bad maybe you should tone it down to something youre comfortable with.


how are you eating now?

 

[Lookin4MyAbs]

Oops, sorry I weigh 192 right now (goal is 125). As far as eating...I'm not really counting calories but I am just trying to eat healthier things in my diet. I only drink water (have been doing that for about 4 years) with an occasional soft drink maybe twice a month. However, I don't drink nearly enough during the day so I'm trying to improve that. Trying to eat more fruit and vegetables, no fast foods or fried foods, more fresh food, lean meats, smaller portions,etc.

Oh yeah I'm 5'4".

 

[xkaylanicolex]

counting calories really isnt that hard, if you sign up for fitday.com they do it for you

you can see how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, then you can subtract it by so much, i think its like 20% at first.
just don't go below 1200 thats very unsafe, you would lose weight like that but you would gain it back faster than you lost it.


but like i said, if what youre doing is bothering you and you don't think you can do it for the rest of your life, tone it down until you can do it. any movement is good just do what you can

 

[KaraCooks]

It sounds like you're doing ok.

If you wanted to really keep track of things, you could look into buying a heart rate monitor and seeing where you are at various points during the course of your exercise, but it's not really necessary.

You can tell when you're overtraining - if you feel fatigued, if you suddenly can't go as fast or as long as you could before for no reason (no injury, illness, whatever), if you are injured ...

But just pushing until you're at your limit and then feeling great a few mins after? Sounds like you're doing pretty well, actually.

I don't think 3 days of strength training and 5 days of cardio is unrealistic - not in the amounts you're talking about. I think you could probably do 3 of each ... and then take a day off ... but honestly that's mostly personal preference.

As long as you feel good about what you're doing, stick with it.

 

[Lookin4MyAbs]

Thanks for everyone's advice! I'm think I'm going to stick with what I'm doing now as far as exercise and diet goes, and I'll see what the scale says and what my measurements are in a couple of weeks and if I'm not happy I'll rethink my plan.

My problem with counting calories is that I'm not going to do it for the rest of my life, and I want to keep the weight off for good. I know because when I was with Weight Watchers for a few months I kept excellent track of my points and never cheated and lost weight quickly and easily, but then after awhile I got tired of keeping track and just wanted to be "normal" again. So I quit, and the ten or 15 pounds I lost came back in no time. And keeping track of calories is even worse than points.